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Can You Dig It? Show Me Them Shovels!

The 31" Sampsons are awesome. Don't think I could break mine if I wanted to.

They can be bent. I straightened out mine a little by being over confident digging in my Texas dark clay. I bent it back with the same ground and "going forewards" instead of leaning backwards. I respected that it is not a tank, and started using common sense. That's been years ago.
 
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I have a White’s Digmaster that I love. I am hoping Garrett picks up production of them again. I bought a Lesche as a backup. I just purchased my first shovel, a Predator Ultra Eagle. I have not gotten to use it yet, but I am impressed with the construction and I like the weight of it. Comes from them with a really sharp edge on it. Looking forward to trying it out.
 

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X2. Best purpose built shovel made. Are there others? Of course. I also have a Predator Barracuda 55. The Sampson just checks ALL of the boxes...size, ability, cost, durability....a very complete shovel!

"what he say!"

(h.h.!)
j.t.
 
No shovel here... still getting down and cutting each plug by hand! I always double cut my lesche so I can cut right through any small roots... yes I am older, yes I have a bad back, yes I have arthritis... and yes I still enjoy cutting 100-200 plugs on a good day!
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it certainly helps to have the "Sampson" if ya have balky knees.i do, and the Sammy is truly keeping me in the hunt. I can use it as a cane for balance, and it
eliminates the initial up and down, while cutting a great, deep,and neat plug every time!

(h.h.!)
j.t.
 
They can be bent. I straightened out mine a little by being over confident digging in my Texas dark clay. I bent it back with the same ground and "going forewards" instead of leaning backwards. I respected that it is not a tank, and started using common sense. That's been years ago.

Yep. Bent mine too years ago in wet, heavy and thick clay where a lake had been drained. And, like you, I did the exact same thing and stuck it back in the ground and pushed forward to bend it back to its original shape. I still have that sampson, but for the past year and a half or so I’ve been using a radius nomad. I broke one of those after about a year and many, many plugs. It cracked at the top serration from all the flexing each time I pop a plug. Got a new one because I like the design and size of the blade. $40 shipped. In my opinion the blade on the sampson is too short.
 

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I have several but my main digging tool is the Predator Tools model 55 Barracuda. For me, this shovel is perfection (almost). I prefer it over the Sampson for a few reasons. The foot pad area is wide enough to get my whole foot on, so it doesn't tear a hole in my shoe soles like some of the more narrow shovels. The blade is slightly bigger for a little deeper plug, but not too big. It's a T handle, which I prefer. The top of the blade/footpad is attached directly to the 1" shaft and has a gusset, so it won't bend like the designs that neck down to a small solid round bar to connect them (I've bent two Sampsons in this spot). The only modification I made was cutting the overall length down to 31" and re-welding the T handle back on. Oh, and I painted it orange so that it's easier to spot if I drop it.

As for hand diggers, I use a Predator Model 75c. Very similar to the Lesche, but with a few minor improvements.
 

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absolutely nothing beats the predators....I have broken everything but them. the whites ground hawg..broke, the lesche sampson....broke, the multiple garden style plug shovels from lowes/tractor supply and the like....broke. have not tried the grave digger yet, my friend has one... feels off in the hands too angular even If it held up, which i am not sure if it would or not.
 
Both of these shovels were purchased from the hardware section at the store. Modified with teeth in the side and a sharp edge. The long one is a trenching shovel cut down. The long ones for Fields the short yellow one is for all other areas. I have very bad shoulders and knees and cannot use a hand trial to cut plugs and use the length of the shovel to help me get off the ground.
 

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my Simplex found an old military shovel so I found a 36" wood handle and use it now-a-days. It's strong except I broke the handle twice, LOL so it's not as long as it was. I make a square plug with it.

I like to find coins in gravel drive & parking areas. I kept my army entrenching shovel, like a hoe, and use it, the gravel is easy to use
 

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my Simplex found an old military shovel so I found a 36" wood handle and use it now-a-days. It's strong except I broke the handle twice, LOL so it's not as long as it was. I make a square plug with it.

I like to find coins in gravel drive & parking areas. I kept my army entrenching shovel, like a hoe, and use it, the gravel is easy to use

That's what I call thrifty! :lol:

Josh
 
Both of these shovels were purchased from the hardware section at the store. Modified with teeth in the side and a sharp edge. The long one is a trenching shovel cut down. The long ones for Fields the short yellow one is for all other areas. I have very bad shoulders and knees and cannot use a hand trial to cut plugs and use the length of the shovel to help me get off the ground.

HA! Your little shovel leaning on the tire is EXACTLY what I bought before the Sampson! If you don’t have to do a lot of prying it works fine. It’s in my shed in case something dumb happens with the others...:yes:
 
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